Cognosc

Much thanks to the both of you for your opinions. I think I shall still get one despite the said flaws. I'll try and post at a later date with a mini-review myself after a little use, maybe useful if any one else stumbles upon this thread at a later date looking into it. Again, thank you.

Hey all, Anyone have any advice or recommendations for a decent Jump Starter. I figure it'll be very useful gadget have around for emergencies. I was looking for one which possibly has a Air Compressor built in, like this one: http://www.maplin.co.uk/heavy-duty-5-in-1-jump-starter-224871?c=froogle&u=224871&t=module I did browse the forum for some ideas but there doesn't seem to be any brands or models mentioned. I did notice that one guy had a problem with his battery going dead after a couple of days of non car use and stated his battery had a 540amp Jump Start value (unfortunately there was no closure on that subject and we never did find out if he found the cause of the issue). Anyway, does this mean the above linked item is no good then as it's 300amps. I've yet to check my battery statistics - if this matters or not I don't know? Any advise much appreciated.

Cheers for the tip, demonufo. Well handy.

I just cut the block(s) off and solderd 2 wires to a + on the speaker and 2 wires to a -. The block on the main fronts also power the tweeter in the door. Just need to work out +'s and -'s.

Sorry, a bit late I know, but for future reference for those searching/reading the forum for info - those speakers I was on about in front doors of Skoda Octavia Mk1 (2003) were: Kenwood KFC-E1762. Which have the following dimensions: Diameter = 5 1/2 inch cone (totals 6 1/2 inch with the fixed bracket for the screws to go into); Depth = 1 3/4 inch (4.45 cm).

I/we recently changed my front speakers in my car, as I was getting a really bad distortion sound from them and I could hardly turn up the volume at all before it sounded bad. When we took the door apart, the speakers looked like the OEM ones, made by Blunkpunt - and I practically was able to pierce a hole through them without much effort at all. We went to Halfords and picked up a pair of new ones for £40. I can't remember the depth but they weren't that 'slim'. We had an old door speaker with us for comparison to be sure. Under the door panel, when removed to get at the speakers, the driver side was covered with plastic to protect all the electrics and speakers and the passenger side was protected with foam (which seems to suggest that my car has been broken into sometime in it's lifetime). The speakers mount into a 'spacer' which mounts onto the door which effectively brings the speakers forward a bit in the door (hence why the depth of the speaker wasn't too much of a worry for me) - and with a Stanley knife we cut the plastic and foam backing within the inside of this spacers. I'm pretty sure this foam/plastic was a cause of most of the distortion-sounding noise. I have a Pioneer head-unit and all speakers in my car are all Kenwood. Sounds awesome now. I'll edit this post when I get home with the speaker model number so you can maybe find the depth of them on-line somewhere (don't think it states this on the box).

That's a good point and something I never even considered, but thinking about it, I think the car would poke out a little over the pavement. The back would be more of a possibility if it hadn't just had a make-over using wedding present money! So that's a big no there. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Just been out to take some photos of the side of their car which I think hit mine to show you why his parking makes me nervous...

That would be perfect, thanks very much Raf.

A bit of background first... My car is parked out on a street which is quite busty during certain parts of the day as our house is opposite an infant school. My previous two cars have both been hit on this street. My PUG 306 got hit by what looked like a lorry reversing into it causing moderate damage and then I'm pretty sure my new foreign neighbours hit my Bora v5 on the rear while attempting to park causing minor scuff damage (a mark on their car seemed to match). Of course, in both cases no note was left. Last Friday my next door neighbour was caught bumping into the rear of my 2003 Octavia vRS by my wife. She ran out an confronted him but he just looked blankly at her (unsure if he speaks English) and carried on attempting to park - which made her nervous and she couldn't watch any more. At the time she checked my car and it looked aright but when I checked it the following day, on the other side of the car is a slight scuff mark (not as bad as the Bora one). He obviously can't seem to park. And by looking at their car (a 2003 Toyota) their is loads of scuff marks all round it - so they obviously don't give a damn about their car. My car... I've only had my car a little over a month. It cost me 3.2K. It has tinted windows which look more tinted than when built at Skoda. Future thinking.... I'm thinking of installing two Backvue's (camera's with parking mode sensors) into both the front and rear of the car to catch any such damage caused in the future on video. These will cost £300 (for two non-GPS versions) or £350 (for one GPS version and one non-GPS version). Now, call me paranoid, but leaving that in a car without an alarm (despite having the tints which will make them a bit less visible) makes me nervous of theft, so I was also considering security tinted windows to protect them, which seems they will cost me around: £250. Finally I was thinking of an alarm to sound if the car's hit so I can check for any idiots who can't park. I was looking into this a while back and if I remember rightly, the one I was looking at was around £200. I was going to get all this done when I got the car until my Insurance company (Admiral) refused to offer a discount for the extra security - apparently this is all classed as a "modification". But now, in hindsight, if I had it all done I would have the evidence I need to confront the neighbours with confidence (I don't like confrontation as I'm afraid I'd "lose it"!). Opinions wanted! Is this overboard for a 3k car? This is the first car I have had which I truly love and am looking after it by doing work on it myself and detailing etc. I'm really spending a lot of time and money keeping her up together. It has made me mad that the neighbours haven't even apologised so I just want to make sure next time I have the evidence - and right - to go round screaming at them (or to get the police involved). Would appreciate your thoughts on this matter. Thanks in advance.

haha that is really funny lol

Yes, sorry about that. Was trying to help by showing ltr/p cost of filling up and thus may have caused some confusion! My bad.

I literally have just come back from filling my car up. The fuel warning light literally went on as I pulled up to the pump. 49.59 ltrs of unleaded.@ 136.9p = £67.89

Hi all, My name is Paul aka Cognosc, I recently purchased myself a pretty good condition Skoda Octavia vRS Mk1 (Born in Nov 2003, in Black). Really loving the ride. Started driving since I was 17. Went from: Mini Metro to Renault 9 to Renault 11 to Vauxhall Cavalier to Pug 306 to VW Bora v5 and now the Octavia vRS. (Not a very interesting car history I know!). I'm now [about] 36 years old. I've been lurking for about just over a week or so and reading all the archived posts which I have learnt a great deal from and have paid for a 2 year Freedom membership to show my appreciation. Currently I work as systems tester for a company that works on computer aids for the public safety sector. (No, not speed cameras!). My main hobby other than the car include music (DJ, music production, etc). Don't want to bore you all to death, so I'll post this now.